Gadget & Tech

Small Internet radio stations were offered a break yesterday, when a recording industry group offered to reduce the royalties it collects for music played online.

Web radio stations are facing new and higher royalty fees starting in July, but many have protested that the higher fees — triple current rates — would put them out of business. Fans of online music stations are concerned that the fee increase would wipe out a nascent Web broadcasting industry that is exposing listeners to a wide range of music that is not often heard on terrestrial radio.

The fees were instituted by a panel of judges appointed by the librarian of Congress, at a rate recommended by SoundExchange, which collects online royalties for the music industry. Yesterday, SoundExchange offered to let broadcasters with less than $1.2 million in annual revenue pay a reduced rate.

“There’s a sense in the music community and in Congress that small webcasters need more time to develop their businesses,” John L. Simson, executive director of SoundExchange, said in a written statement. “We look at it as artists and labels doing their part to help small operators get a stronger foothold.”

Under the SoundExchange offer, small webcasters would pay 10 percent of all gross revenue up to $250,000 and 12 percent of all gross revenue above that amount.

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